District 9(2009) creates a science fiction history of what would happen if an alien life-force came to live on earth. Due to the actions of the human race in the past, director Neill Blomkamp shoots this film in a documentary style showing the attitudes of both the humans and “prawns” as the aliens are nicknamed, and there are many parallels suggested throughout the film both to apartheid as well as other genocides and oppressed peoples. This futuristic film labels humans destined to repeat their acts of genocide and oppression for others.
Because the film in shot in a documentary style, the viewers listen to the thoughts of men and women who knew the protagonist, Wilkus Van De Merwe(Sharlto Copley, a man who once headed the munitions corporation, Multi-National United(MNI), but was accidentally exposed to an alien chemical that begins to morph him into one of the “enemies.” Merwe was largely on the side of many humans who believed the aliens had overstayed their welcome, and believed that they should be forced in ghettos, which he describes are much like concentration camps and not very suitable for living. He has aliens killed as well as those unborn, due to what he says is “population control.” In the beginning of the film, Merwe is a victimizer to the aliens and ideally will do any means necessary to get rid of them, as always is a victimizers excuse, “to make the world better.” Once Merwe is infected and begins to transform into his worst nightmare, he learns the horrifying truth and is able to see things clearly from the other side of the playing field. Immediately he is frighten for his life and begins to fight for the aliens and himself, for things to go back to normal so that he will once again be human and the aliens will return home. wherever that may be.
Much like the film Conspiracy(2001), starring Kenneth Branagh as Reinhard Heydrich and Stanley Tucci as Adolf Eichmann, viewers are able to see into the horrifying and deluded minds of the victimizers. In Conspiracy a recreation of the Wannsee Conference is portrayed, where the Nazi Final Solution phase of the Holocaust is produced. In both District 9 and Conspiracy, those considered to be the victimizers believe they are right in their actions, yet to the audience often come across as delusional as characters describe what they believe. Through the victimizers insight, we learn through their beliefs, their reasoning for their actions, and this appalling realization that there is no significant reason to commit such crimes against humanity, if there ever was/is one at all. Creating the other seems to be a power struggle throughout time and with these two films, the victimizers show their true colors when in the presence of an equal and suggest the illegitimate thought processes involved in the actions people take for power.
Defining the victims can often be easy; they are ones who are being mercilessly murdered and are dehumanized in order to give a just cause of action. Although in District 9 the aliens are obviously not human, they are given little to no rights, and are treated unfairly by much of the human population. The distinction between the two species is not as clearly defined, however in films such as Hotel Rwanda(2004). Starring Don Cheadle as Paul Rusesabagin, the film follows the events of the genocide in Rwanda of the Hutus against the Tutsis. Previous to Hutus gaining any power, they were once considered to be lesser than Tutsis by those who created each race, the Belgian Empire during the indirect imperialist rule of Rwanda. In the film, it is difficult to identify who is Hutu and who is Tutsi, which were defined by colonists due to skin color, facial structure, etc. Originally one race of people, they were separated and throughout history, both Hutu and Tutsi were dehumanized and murdered. Defining “the other” is not a recent concept in human history. To define “the other” is to define one’s self as well, however in doing so, acts of hatred begin to erupt and there are instances of such in the Rwandan genocide and imperialism/colonialism as a whole, the acts of Nazi Germany, as well as apartheid in South Africa.
The stages of genocide include identifying the undesirable class of people, excluding them from the “greater” society, and eventually exterminating them altogether. Treatment of the lesser group is consistently horrifying as is emphasized through the literary work “Saint Marie” where a young Native American child enters a convent and is violently accosted and physically beaten by one of the Sisters, Sr. Leopolda, who also shares a name with King Leopold, the king of Belgium who entered South Africa and colonized one of the biggest colonies in Africa using brutality to create large economic growth for the Belgium state. Marie is eventually burned and gets back at Sr. Leopolda by pretending to be a Saint, however Sr. Leopolda’s actions are not quickly forgotten.
It is also important to mention the fact that traitors to the stronger powers, the oppressors, are not easily forgiven and often put into the same group as the victims. One example of this is the case of Raoul Wallenberg. In an excerpt of a document about Wallenberg, a man who risked his life to save hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust, went missing after he was taken to a concentration camp and what happened to him after is unknown. The victimizers’ reaction to Wallenberg is similar to that of Paul in Hotel Rwanda, and once Merwe decides to help the aliens in District 9. During the interviews in District 9, people are shocked at the actions of Merwe. These characters were outcasted from oppressors and had to risk their lives for humanity.
District 9 creates a world where history repeats itself, and could play out as a historical document of the future when aliens come to earth. It suggests that humans have yet to evolve, and that the industrialization of killing will continue growing as will hatred between those who think there are others who are less than themselves and deserve to be treated as such.
"It is also important to mention the fact that traitors to the stronger powers, the oppressors, are not easily forgiven and often put into the same group as the victims."
ReplyDeleteI like this point because it made me think. Wikus helps the aliens in District 9 and because of it he is grouped together with the aliens. Out of people interviewed, some say that he did what he had to, that he took whatever option he had left. Others say he is a traitor, that he betrayed his kind. Putting aside the science fiction aspect of him changing into an alien, what would his friends and colleagues have said then, had he chosen to still help the aliens? Along the same lines, would a documentary of Schindler have interviews of people with similar inclantions? That he was a savior, or a traitor? If documentary on Rwanda interviewed Paul Rusesabagin's friends, would the Hutus call him a traitor?